Dissipation of excess heat is a problem that must often be addressed by equipment designers. Various electronic components, microprocessors, for example, need to be cooled in order to operate properly. As increasingly large numbers of components are formed in small areas, problems caused by excess heat become more pronounced. Various methods and devices have therefore been developed to cool components.
A popular method for dissipating heat is convection dissipation, especially via cooling fans in the vicinity of components to be cooled. In this method, moving air carries thermal energy from the heated component and dissipates it to the surrounding atmosphere. While this is sufficient for many purposes, it has been found that fan cooling alone is often insufficient.
Another common method of heat dissipation uses a combination of cooling by conduction and by radiation. Devices, known as heatsinks are mounted in direct contact with components to be cooled so that the thermal energy may be conducted, in accordance with equilibrium principles, from the component to the heatsink device. Most heatsinks have a substantial surface area that is not in contact with the component so that the absorbed thermal energy can dissipate into the air. Many heatsink devices include dissipation fins of various configurations, while others rely principally on a substantial heatsink mass to absorb heat, especially transient heat.
Heatsinks are sometimes secured to the top surface of electronic components by wires, clips, or the like. These wires or clips may snap over the heatsink to engage either the electronic device package or the socket into which the electronic device package is installed. Alternately, a heatsink may be connected to either the electronic component or the circuit board on which the component is mounted using screws or similar connectors. In addition, some heatsinks may be chemically bonded to the electronic component to be cooled; however, over time chemical bonds tend to break, resulting in decreased thermal conduction from the component to the heatsink. In extreme cases, the chemically bonded heatsink may detach completely from the component to be cooled.
Heatsinks that attach to electronic components or to surrounding circuit boards often require the use of mounting holes in either the component or the surrounding circuit board which complicates the installation process. Moreover connecting a heatsink to a circuit board can sometimes stress or damage the electronic connections between the circuit component and the circuit board, especially in the case of ball grid array (BGA) mounted components. It is therefore desirable to provide a heatsink that mounts to an electronic component in a manner unlikely to damage the electronic component and that does not necessarily require mounting holes in either the electronic component or the circuit board on which it is mounted.